Sale of M/V Hellenic Breeze

News Release Hellenic Carriers Limited June 8, 2010

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Hellenic Carriers Limited
Sale of vessel
Press Release 8 June 2010
SALE OF M/V HELLENIC BREEZE
Hellenic Carriers Limited, (“Hellenic” or the “Company”) (AIM:
HCL), an international provider of marine
transportation services for dry bulk cargoes, announces that its
wholly owned subsidiary Nestos Shipping
Corp. (“Nestos”), the ship owning company of the M/V Hellenic
Breeze has signed a Memorandum of
Agreement (‘MoA’) with an unaffiliated third party domiciled in
China for the sale of its vessel at a gross
price of US$23.46 million in cash. M/V Hellenic Breeze is a
69,601dwt Panamax built in 1993 at Tsuneishi
Shipbuilding, Japan. According to the terms of the MoA delivery to
the new owners is expected to take
place between 20 June to 30 August 2010 at Nestos’ option. Taking
depreciation and amortization into
account the Company expects to realize a net book gain of
approximately US$8.5 million on this sale.
The proceeds of the sale will be used primarily towards debt
repayment.
Due to their intention to sell the vessel, Nestos exercised its
option not to extend the charter party with the
vessel’s previous charterers Rizzo-Botiglieri–De Carlini Armatori
S.p.A. (‘RBDA’) and the relevant time
charter was terminated on 25 May 2010. The vessel is currently
trading in the spot market.
Fotini Karamanlis, Chief Executive Officer commented: “With this
sale, Hellenic initiates its fleet renewal
program. The Hellenic Breeze was acquired in May 2006 for a total
consideration of US$21 million and is
now being sold for a price above its acquisition cost, four years
ago. Most importantly, since 2006 the
vessel has contributed a total amount of approximately US$28
million to Hellenic’s net profit. Since the
market downturn in early 2009, second hand vessel values have
appreciated significantly, hence we
consider market conditions favorable for the sale of an older
vessel and the renewal of the fleet through
investments in modern high quality units. Going forward, Hellenic
is well positioned to enhance
shareholders’ value by exploiting vessel acquisition opportunities
as well as new building options that
would expand the business in a prudent and timely
manner.”</DIV></BODY></HTML>